Stories of family and ancestors who lived and worked in Cohoes (textile and garment workers, butchers and barbers), Waterford (canalers), Whitehall (farmers and canalers), Port Henry (iron miners and Civil War soldiers), Champlain (canalers and farmers) and other towns along the Champlain Canal in New York State with some diversions to the places they emigrated from....Quebec (landless farmers, shoemakers, sailors, soldiers), Acadia (more farmers), and even Cornwall, England (tin miners).

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Solyme Beauvais who Brought his Family Across the Border from Québec to Cohoes

Salim, Solyme Beauvais, 1821- 1902, was the father of at least nine children including my great grandmother, Celena Beauvais. Originally from the Richelieu Valley, two of Solyme Beauvais' great grandfathers were soldiers in the Seven Years War (The French and Indian War in North America). His paternal great grandfather was Joseph Xavier Beauvais who came from Champagnole, France to Québec to fight in the Regiment Languedoc. His maternal great grandfather was Jean Jacques Dubord dit St Chaume, a member of the Regiment Guyenne, who died at the end of the conflict.

We have limited but valuable information about Solyme Beauvais starting with his baptism record below:

Baptism Record

The baptism record is from St Joseph's Church in Chambly on July 1st, 1821. The curé (priest) at St. Joseph's records his name Salim, the legitimate child of Jean Baptiste Beauvais and Geneviéve Benoit and he was born that morning.
In 1832, when he was only eleven, his mother, Geneviéve Benoit, died at the age of 32 years. His father remarried later that year.

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Then on January 25th, 1841 there is the marriage record of Solyme Beauvais to Adele Guais dit Castonquais at St Cesaire in Rouville. It tells us that Solyme's mother, Geneviéve is deceased but his father Jean Baptiste is alive. Adele's parents are Jean Guais dit Castonguais and Mare Angelique Delmasse. The fathers of the bride and groom are "cultivateurs" or farmers.

Next is the 1851 census of lower Canada. Something strange happens here that only human error can explain. Solyme Beauvais, his wife Adele Guais and their three children are captured twice in the 1851 census.

Here is one, followed by a closer view

the detail

Here is the other with a closer view

the detail

In the first image Solyme, Adele and their three girls: Mathilde 10, Cordelia 6, and Celenie are living with or in close proximity to Adele's parents Jean Guais/Guay and Angelique Delmasse. In the second larger image, Solyme and Adele with the same children are not in proximity to the Guais/Guay parents/grandparents.

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Then in September 1855, Soylme is listed as a witness at the funeral and burial for his mother in law Angelique Delmasse at St Cesaire, Rouville.

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In 1861, the Canada Census finds Solyme and Adele in Rouville with seven children ranging from 1 year old to 18 yeas old.

the detail

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On August 11th, 1862 Solyme and Adele's daughter Mathilde married Noel Tetreau in St.Cesaire. Solyme is present according to the church record.

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Nine years later, the US Federal 1870 Census captures the family in Cohoes. It is an interesting example of an enumerator/census taker with English as his first language, listening and figuring out how to spell a name that sounds different than anything he has ever encountered. He hears the French name "Beauvais" and writes "Boovah". The spelling variations continued through to today, some of Solyme's descendants spell their surname Bova, Bovah, Bove, Bovee, Beauvais. Solyme's given name turns into "Silliam".

the detail

We may safely conclude Solyme brought his family from Québec to Cohoes between the 1861 census of Canada and the 1870 US Federal Census. Perhaps the family moved after the marriage of Matilde in August 1962 but we cannot be certain. Solyme may have made the train ride north alone from Cohoes to St.Césaire for the wedding because the marriage document does not mention the presence of Adele, Mathilde's mother. Perhaps Adele remained in Cohoes with the children.
The last child in the family group is "Adolphine" who was born in Quebec in 1863....probably it was after Adolphine's birth when the family moved.

The Take Away....If you believe "Silliam Beoovah" is indeed the one and same as "Solyme Beauvais", you can believe the Solyme Beauvais family was established in Cohoes by the 1870 census.

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“But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”

Wilder, Thornton. The Bridge of San Luis Rey. 1927.

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